AANP: Sleep Is Best Treatment for Insomnia

AANP: Sleep Is Best Treatment for Insomnia

INDIANAPOLIS, June 25 -- Both behavioral and medication interventions have their place in treatment of insomnia.

"If you can get a patient to sleep, they worry less about being awake, they feel better during the day, and that confidence decreases the factors that take a person from transient to chronic insomnia," Phyllis Zee, M.D., Ph.D., a sleep specialist at Northwestern University told attendees at the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners meeting here.

Before it is possible to help patients return to healthy sleep patterns, those who are experiencing trouble must be identified, said co-presenter Mary Adams, R.N., ANP, of Newark, Del. This is not always easy.

Studies have shown that 70% of patients do not seek treatment for insomnia. A similar percentage of patients say their health care provider has never asked them about their sleep or sleep habits.

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